


Convalesce

by Sorenalice



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: AU, Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 23:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1125480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorenalice/pseuds/Sorenalice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were supposed to free the animal test subjects from the testing lab. What they did end up freeing is much more dangerous. Now they have to teach him how to be human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The RV rumbled up the pristine driveway to the facility. The moon lit the field around the windowless building. It stood about two stories tall, and was painted a bright, obnoxious white.  
The facility was known to be an animal testing facility. The first floor was a few labs and a front desk. The second floor was a mystery. The Public was not allowed and when asked, the managers only said ‘Offices’.  
That was our target. The mysterious second floor where illegal testing and experiments might be going on. We were supposed to go in, free the test subjects on the first floor and investigate the second floor, freeing anything we come across. There wasn’t any night guards, and we’d already disabled the security system.  
We were to take the cages from the facility and put them in the RV and bring them to the nearest Humane Society.   
So, obviously, when we got there, the plan went to pot.  
There weren’t any animals on the first floor. There were signs that there had at one point been animals there, strands of fur wedged into corners, the smell of wet dogs, a rubber dog bone thrown into a forgotten corner, but no animals. Nothing.   
The second floor, however was very interesting.  
It was a labyrinth of bright white walls and curious machinery. There was no signs of animals ever even being there.  
We walked cautiously through the hallways, creeping deeper into the building.  
We stopped when we heard something thump against a door. The door was made of cold steel, the walls surrounding it were an even white.   
Something behind the door shuffled away and the noise abruptly stopped.  
Mom jiggled the knob and twisted it, pushing the door open as she did. The thing in the room whimpered and cowered in a corner.  
Wait a minute.  
That’s not a thing. That’s- that’s a person.  
What  
I- I- What?  
There was a small person hiding in the room. He looked to be a few years younger than me with big blue eyes and very short hair. His hair was shorter in some square patches than others, what would be obvious evidence of surgery or experimentation in an animal at a facility like this, but, a teenage boy?  
His clothes were filthy gray scrubs. He held onto a dirty yellow towel like a lifeline. His eyes flicked wildly from Mom, to Dad, to me.   
He started stuttering “W-who are you?”  
We blinked and looked at each other. Mom answered.  
“We- we’re here to help. What are you doing here?”  
“I live here.”  
“Well, we guessed that. But why?”  
“I don’t know.”  
Mom sighed in growing frustration.  
“We’re here to free you. We’re gonna get you out of here.”  
“What is ‘free’?”  
Mom froze for a moment  
“It’s-it’s when you can do what you want when you want without anyone stopping you.”  
The boy pondered this for a minute before creasing his eyebrows and shrugging.  
“Do you have a name? Something they call you by?”  
“They call me lots of things.”  
“Anything that you like?”  
The boy’s face twisted into a perplexed expression and he looked down at the ground a moment.  
“The first handler they gave me called me Daniel. I think he quit, but I’m not sure. I liked him.”  
He said the last bit like the words were foreign.  
“Do you want to be called Daniel again?”  
Daniel nodded.  
“Do you want to be free, Daniel?”  
He paused before slowly, he nodded again.  
“Come with us. We’ll get you out of here.”  
She offered a hand to help him up and he took it, standing up. Mom pulled him into the hallway and motioned for me and Dad to follow. We stepped after her and walked behind her and Daniel.  
We made our way back through the building. Mom asked Daniel if there was anyone else like him in the building and he shook his head no.  
We finally got to the front doors when Daniel stopped.  
“Daniel? What is it? We’re almost out.”  
“What is that?”   
He pointed at the windowed front doors with a worried look on his face.  
Mom furrowed her brows and looked at the door before her eyes widened and she explained.  
“That’s the outside. It’s where we’re going.”  
“Is it safe?”  
“When you’re with us it’s safe.”  
Daniel shuffled closer to Mom and she grabbed his arm, pulling him out the door.  
Once we were all outside, we started towards the RV. Daniel stayed back. He stood transfixed.  
The sky was turning a dark orange in the east, and the west was a deep black. Thousands of stars dotted the sky. A warm breeze rustled through the well kept lawn and green, leafy trees. Daniel’s jaw had dropped and his eyes tried to look everywhere at once, he sucked in more of the sweet outside air and sniffed at the earthy smell of dusty wind.  
“Do you like it Daniel?”  
His gaze stopped on Mom and he smiled.  
“Is it like this everywhere?”  
“Sometimes. It changes every day.”  
His eyes bugged out of his head.  
“How does it change every day?!”   
He was baffled by the science of having a varied day. Mom chuckled and answered.  
‘I don’t know. It just does.”  
She motioned for him to come after us and he quickly obeyed.  
“Oh, dear. I forgot to introduce us. I’m Maddie-” she pointed at herself “-this is my husband, Jack, and this-” she gestured at Dad and then to me “-is our daughter, Jazz.”  
“What’s a husband? And a daughter?”  
“Uh- They’re very important people that I love very much.”  
Daniel only looked more confused.  
“What is love?”  
Mom’s face melted into a look of pity and concern. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug.  
“L-love is when- it’s when you like someone a whole lot and you want to spend all of your time with them.”  
Daniel blinked a few times before trying and failing to escape her grasp. She kept holding him, barely holding back tears for the poor boy. Daniel was just very confused.  
“Maddie? What is this? What is happening?”  
Mom let go of him quickly and backed off, rubbing the tears forming in her eyes.  
“Oh-oh, sorry Daniel, it was a hug. It’s how you tell someone you like them.”  
Daniel nodded and walked up to Mom. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders awkwardly.  
“Like this? Am I doing it right?”  
“Y-yeah, Daniel. That’s perfect. Oh, we should get going. We don’t want to get caught.”  
Mom pulled Daniel back in the direction of the RV, while Dad and I looked at each other for a moment and followed after them.  
\---  
Daniel had been amazed by the car. He kept pushing all kinds of buttons and asking all types of questions about basic things, like ‘What is music?’ or something like that.   
We eventually pulled over into a gas station. Mom told Dad and I to get out of the RV, and Daniel to stay.  
We stepped out of the RV and walked around the back so we could talk privately.  
“What are we going to do with him? He’s, what?Fourteen?”  
Dad spoke up “We could give him to an orphanage. They take in kids all the time without any questions.”  
“Dad, we can’t just send him to an orphanage. He’s as naive as a baby. He’d never even been outside before today. He could stay with us. We’ve got that spare bedroom at the house. He could stay there.”  
“Yeah, but what are we going to do with him? We could teach him how to socialize, but what if he has some kind of strange condition because of the facility.” Mom added  
“We could ask him. He’s bound to know if he needs something or if he thinks he needs something. We could ask him if he could do something his handler couldn’t.”  
Mom and Dad nodded at my suggestion.  
“Ok, we’ll ask him. But what if he needs something important? What if he was getting a special kind of pill at the facility that isn’t found anywhere else?”  
Mom sighed after she thought a moment.  
“We’d have to give him up. We could give him to a hospital or a police station. That’s what people so when they give up a kid. They just leave them somewhere like that and the people there take care of it. It’s better than sending him back to that lab or to an orphanage.”  
We frowned, but agreed.  
Dad filled the RV up with gas and Mom and I went in to talk to Daniel.  
He was sitting in the same spot where we left him, marveling at having control over the door light. He flicked it on and off over and over again.  
Mom cleared her throat and called out to him.  
“Daniel.”   
He stopped turned to face us.  
“What?”  
“We need to talk.”  
“Okay.”  
“Uhm, at the facility, did your handler or whoever ever give you something special to eat or drink? Something you’re supposed to have?”  
Daniel shook his head no.  
‘Can you do anything that your handler couldn’t? Do you know what they did to you?”  
Daniel nodded.  
“Really? What?”  
“They said I was a human/ghost hybrid. Everyone else said that they were human.”  
Mom and I stood there, slack jawed, staring at Daniel.  
“Wh-wha-really?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Wh-how did that happen? Do you know?”  
“No.”  
His lips quirked up into a small smile before his face fell again.  
“Is it going to be a problem?”  
“No! No, Daniel, you’re fine.”  
Mom turned to me and got a severe look on her face. She turned back to Daniel and started.  
“What does being half ghost mean?”  
“I’m half human and half ghost. I am human and ghost at the same time.”  
“No, I mean- what can you do because of your ghost half?”  
“I have a ghost form, I can fly, turn invisible and intangible, the basic ghost powers.”  
Mom grunted and nodded.  
“Can we see your ghost form?”  
Daniel straightened his back and a bright ring of light formed at his waist and split into two. One moved up over his head, the other moving down his legs. The rings changed the dusty white clothes turned black, his black hair turned into a dirty white, and his ice blue eyes turned a bright green.  
We stared at the transformation in awe. How often do you see someone turn into a ghost?  
“How is that possible?” Mom whispered.  
“I don’t know.”   
Daniel looked down and transformed back to his human self with those words.  
“Sorry.”  
“Danny, it’s fine. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”  
“Danny?”  
“Sorry, it’s a shortened version of Daniel.”  
Daniel thought about it for a moment before repeating,  
“Danny.” he paused, “I like it.”  
Mom blinked.  
“ Really? Do you want us to call you that?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Alright, Danny it is.”  
Dad hopped back in the RV and turned the key.  
“So, Daniel, do you have anything you like to do?”  
Danny corrected him.  
“Call me Danny.”  
“Okay, Danny. But what do you like?”  
Danny got a worried look on his face and shook his head.  
“What do you mean?”  
Danny hesitated before he slowly responded.  
“I don’t like a lot of things. I don’t know what there is to like.”  
Mom made a small noise of pity and put a hand on his shoulder.  
“It’s okay, Danny. You’ll find something to like.”  
Danny nodded and Dad pulled out of the station. We drove for what seemed like hours, heading back home to Amity Park.


	2. Chapter 2

The RV bounced along and Danny started telling us about his life.  
Ever since he could remember, he was in that room. It had always been his room. A couple of times a day, his Handler would come in and feed him, or take him out for exercise on a treadmill, or “correct” Danny’s behavior (which I think meant hitting him, Danny had some bad scars that I could see on his neck). Some other days, Danny would be taken out of his room and taken into a lab and he would train his powers while the scientists would take notes. Other times they would strap him down and hurt him. They dissected him. Repeatedly.   
He was supposed to be a weapon. A weapon they could completely control. He was a weapon in development, and we just rescued him from his ‘testing phase’.  
I’ve never been more disgusted by anything. Who would do that? You spend so much time making a human/ghost hybrid and then treat that hybrid like yesterday’s trash. It’s not right. Danny even said some of the “names” his handlers had given him. They were words like “Freak”, “Ghost”, “Moron”, and more. He’d been treated terribly, whether he knew it or not.   
It may have been normal for him. He was shocked to hear that it was wrong for one person to hurt anyone. He was confused by basic things. This boy had been brainwashed into thinking that his imprisonment was completely natural and okay.  
How could someone do this to a child? He looked forteen. If that. He was tiny. Barely past five feet tall.  
His growth had probably been stunted by his captivity. He was skittish and quiet. He only spoke when spoken to, or had a question. When Dad closed the car door earlier, he jumped and looked scared. Loud noises scared him. He still didn’t trust us. We rescued him, but he was still reserved and looked at us suspiciously whenever we did something in front of him. The psychologist in me pointed signs to a generalized anxiety disorder, depression, possible PTSD, or acute stress. His height suggests that he doesn’t grow very fast. That could either be a result of genetics or malnutrition, abuse, or Down’s syndrome. I doubt the last one, he seems to have all brain functions and he’s more thin and spindly than thick and stout.   
What had they done to him in there, and for how long? Did he have a life before he was there and does he just not remember, or was he actually born there?  
All signs pointed to prolonged abuse and neglect.   
Eventually, Danny fell asleep. He just curled himself up in his seat and closed his eyes. The only way you could tell he was even asleep was his closed eyes and steady breathing.   
Danny began breathing harshly and erratically. Tears leaked out of his eyes and he started mumbling and shouting “No, no, please, stop! I’ll be good! Please stop!”  
I shook him awake and he scrambled away from me, his breathing heavy. His pupils were dilated in fear. He soon realized where he was and calmed down, slowing his breath and closing his eyes.  
“Sorry.” he mumbled out.  
“No, Danny. It’s fine, I’m sorry.”  
He looked at me like I’d grown a second head. I smiled at him and helped him off of the floor and back into his seat. He sighed and stared out the window, staying silent for the rest of the ride.  
By the time the RV pulled into our driveway we were all exhausted. Danny was nervously glancing around the house, checking for any threats or familiarity in the warm red bricks. Dad hopped up the back steps and shoved the key in the lock. The door swung open and we stepped inside. Danny hung back by the door, suddenly interested in his shoes.   
“Danny?”  
His head snapped up to look at Mom  
“Hm?”  
“What are you doing? Come on in.”  
He shuffled inside, his head hanging.  
“Is something wrong, Danny?”  
He looked back up at Mom and responded in a quiet voice.  
“What am I doing here?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I mean, why did you take me with you?”  
“Because, they weren’t treating you right. You deserve better than what you were getting there.”  
He looked down, a confused expression on his face.  
“How were they supposed to treat me?”  
“They were supposed to treat you like a person. You’d never even been outside before last night, had you?”  
“...No, but…”  
“But what?”  
“I want to go back to my room.” he said, barely above a whisper.  
So that was it. His room, if you could even call it that, was home. He was scared to leave the only thing he’d ever known. There had only been a blanket in that room, and he brought it with him. He was clenching it in his hand. He misses the people who treated him so badly and wants to go back. Stockholm syndrome. It’s common in kidnapping victims. The victims sympathize, empathize, have general positive feelings, and even defend their captors. Because, to the subconscious, someone you like isn’t a threat, so the subconscious makes you like them. It’s to protect the ego and save from further mental trauma. Freudian theory. I remember reading a statistic that said about 27% of hostage situation victims show signs of Stockholm syndrome. He’s emotionally attached to that place. It’s understandable. If he wasn’t born in the facility or doesn’t have any memories from the outside, then that hellhole is home to him. He feels comfortable there.  
“Sorry, Danny, but you can’t go back. It’s not safe for you there. We’ll give you a new room. It’ll be comfier than your old one, alright?”  
Danny looked unsure before he looked down at his feet and nodded. Mom smiled and continued.  
“Now, Jazz will show you to your room, then you can come back downstairs and we can eat.”  
Danny blinked at her  
“But we already ate.”  
“Danny, that was hours ago.”  
“And?”  
Mom stared at him, a disbelieving look on her face.  
“Danny, how often did they feed you back at the facility?”  
“Once a day. Why?”  
Our jaws collectively dropped and we gasped.  
“Danny, people need to eat three times a day to stay healthy.”  
Danny looked at her, confused and worried.  
“Don’t worry. we’ll get you adjusted to normal life in no time, just go with Jazz, now.”  
Danny nodded and turned to me, ready to go. I smiled at him and motioned for him to follow.  
“This way, Danny.” He walked after me, shuffling his feet. I walked up the stairs and opened the door to the guest room we never used. We stepped inside.   
The walls were a bright baby blue, the occasional off white door to the closet or bathroom. The bed in the center of the room was big and squishy. The blue comforter ready to wrap around anyone and lull them to sleep. A clock on the nightstand flashed ‘ 1:00 PM’ in bright red numbers.  
The little brother the room was painted for died in the hospital. They never let us see his body.  
But now the room would be used for another child. One who really needs a good home.


	3. Chapter 3

“Jazz what is this?” I sighed and looked up from my book at what Danny was holding.  
“An egg.” It’s been a few months since we rescued Danny. Lately he’s taken to bringing us things to name and explain. He’s rummaged through the whole house at this point. It’s sad that he doesn't know these things, and don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy to help, but when you’re asked what a spoon is five times in a 48 hour period, you start to get a little annoyed. He woke me up at 2 am last night because one of the bathroom lights went out.  
He is kind of adorable, though. He’s like a little brother. A very lost, confused and oblivious little brother, but a little brother all the same.  
He stared at the egg for a moment before he looked back up at me.  
“What does it do?”  
“You eat it. It’s for eating.” I went back to my book. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him sniff the egg, then slide it into his mouth.  
“Danny, no!”  
He flinched like he’d been slapped and dropped the egg. He peeked up at me, his head turned down. “Sorry.” he mumbled  
I shook my head.  
“No, Danny. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled. That’s not the right way to eat an egg.”  
Danny blinked at me and then looked back at the egg.  
“Do you want me to show you how?”  
He turned his gaze back to me and nodded. I smiled and quickly cleaned up the egg he’d dropped. I pulled a pan out of the cupboard and turned on the oven.  
“Don’t touch this right now, it’s hot and it’ll hurt you.” He stared warily at the oven, inching away from it. I smiled and greased down the pan and cracked some eggs into it. Throwing away the eggs I smirked.  
Danny was completely enthralled by the sizzling oil and eggs. He was watching as close as he could, while staying three feet away, careful of being burned. His eyes were as wide as saucers and his nostrils were flaring, smelling the salty aroma.   
I took a spatula and flipped the eggs onto plates when they were done and sprinkled some salt on them. Setting both plates down at the table, I invited Danny to sit down and eat. I grabbed us some forks and sat, picking up my book again and eating the egg. I watched Danny as he took his first bites of the egg.   
His eyes grew wide and he stared down at the egg. He grinned and shoved the rest of his egg in his mouth. He chewed the whole thing and swallowed it all in one bite. He beamed at me.  
“Did you like it?”  
“Yeah!”  
Mom strode into the room, sniffing the air. “Do I smell eggs?” Danny’s grin stretched from ear to ear and he replied. “Yeah! Jazz made eggs!” Mom smiled at him.  
“I take it you liked them?”  
“Yes!”  
Mom laughed at the look on Danny’s face and grabbed herself a bowl of cereal. She leaned against the counter and spooned it into her mouth, watching us.  
“So, Danny. You’ve been living with us for a while now. How do you like it?”  
Danny smiled shyly and blushed a little. “I really like it. I don’t know why I wanted to go back to the lab. It’s fun out here and nobody hurts me.”  
Mom’s face dropped but she picked it up again in a sad smile. “Well, Danny I’m glad you like it. How has tutoring been going?”  
“I know all of the letters and numbers and I moved into level two reading books a few days ago.”  
“Really? That’s great! You’re very smart.”  
Danny puffed out his chest and got a proud smile on his face. He said a quick thanks and started playing with his hands. Mom looked at me and we shared a smile.  
We heard a rumbling coming down the steps and Dad, in all of his orange-jumpsuited glory, tripped into the kitchen.  
Mom worked as the head veterinarian at the local animal clinic. Dad was a stay at home dad/ inventor. He set aside the basement as a lab and had a few patents out. I’m planning on becoming a psychologist, but I’m still in high school.  
“Hey, Jazz, want to take Danny shopping today?” Mom asked  
“Sure. What are we getting?”  
“We need to get him some more clothes. He’s shooting up like a rocket.” Dad said with a smile.  
“What’s a rocket?” Danny asked, confused. Dad smiled at him.  
“It’s something that goes really fast and can take people into space.”  
“Space?”  
“The sky. Y’know when you see the sky at night and all of those little balls of light- the stars, and the Moon and all of the planets. That’s space.”  
Danny’s eyes widened and he got a hopeful look on his face. “Can I go into space?”  
Dad smiled and ruffled Danny’s hair. “Not, quite yet. Maybe someday. Maybe we can get you some books or movies on space. Would you like that?”  
Danny vigorously nodded and smiled. Dad looked up at me. “Think you can swing by the bookstore and grab something from the kid’s sections that he can read? And maybe some documentaries?”   
“Sure, Dad. But I’ll be needing money.” Dad’s eyes narrowed at me.   
“Mmmhmm. Sure, right. You’ll spend all of this on Danny.” he said suspiciously as he handed me a few bills. I grabbed them with a satisfied smirk and gave him a wry look.  
“Of course, Dad. Not a single penny will go towards anything but Danny.”  
Mom spoke up “And don’t forget to only-” I cut her off, having heard the speech millions of times before. “Only buy the SPCA approved brands. Don’t worry, Mom. I’ve got the list memorized.”  
Mom smiled at me and nodded. “Alright, Jazz. Go on and get ready to go.”  
I hurried up the stairs into my bedroom and straightened myself out and grabbed my bag. I trotted down the stairs to find Danny waiting for me by the door, ready to go. He opened the door and followed me outside.  
We hopped in my car and Danny immediately turned on the radio. He likes listening to it. I think it has something to do with the silence of his room in the facility. He can’t stand it being quiet anymore. He used to want everyone to be completely silent and hushed. Now he revels in the noise. He’ll turn on the TV, even if nothing’s on, and just listen and watch the infomercials or the news. He’s also become severely claustrophobic. He can’t handle being in a small enclosed space. He freaked out once when he walked into Mom’s closet. He was hyperventilating and his pupils were dilated and all of that.   
It’s good, almost, that he’s got these fears and habits. It means he’s moving on from the facility. He used to have night terrors every night. Those have gotten a lot better. He only has them every other day or so.  
The car bounced into the mall parking lot and I pulled into a narrow space. Danny hopped out of the car and started towards the door, hauling me after him.  
There’s another thing. People. Danny loves being around people. Not many people, that still freaks him out, but just a loosely packed group of people is perfect for him. He’s like a two year old. He tries to make friends with everyone he sees, but is distrustful and anxious around anyone wearing white or some kind of suit.  
We walked into a store and he quickly picked out a few pairs of plain blue jeans and some white shirts. He didn’t have much taste in the way of fashion, but he was still learning.   
His hair was growing out too. When we met him it was patchy. Some spots were very clearly recently shaved close to his head, just barely some black stubble. Other spots were still cut short, but were thicker and longer than the others. It was coming in nice and evenly now. He had a full head of black hair. In his ghost form, what we thought was dull gray hair was actually very a dirty snow white. They hadn’t cleaned him often in the facility. He was completely baffled by regular showers. Thankfully, he loved showering, so he smelled good almost all the time.  
We shuffled into the bookstore, and walked into the brightly colored children’s section. He wandered through, slowly reading the titles, mouthing the words.   
Eventually, he found a few books about space and I found a few books for myself. I left him to read in the children’s section while I went off and got a few documentaries about deep space that I thought Danny would like.  
After a few hours of roaming the mall and grabbing some ice cream, we meandered back to the car and drove home.  
Mom was waiting for us when we got home. Her face was grim and the crease between her eyebrows that she got when she was worried was standing proudly on her face. She held a crumpled paper in her hands and opened her mouth to speak.  
“They’re looking for you, Danny.”  
Danny cocked his head and Mom held out the paper. It was a missing person’s poster. There was a picture of Danny below some black print.

MISSING:  
Daniel Blanche  
14 years old  
Last seen: October 12, 2013


	4. Chapter 4

Danny is in danger. They are going to find him and they’re gonna take him back to that facility. Back to where he was treated like something not someone. He doesn’t deserve any of this. He’s one of the sweetest kids out there and for the first fourteen years of his life he was abused and neglected.  
Mom and Dad disappeared down into the lab a while ago. I’m sitting in the living room watching the space documentaries we got. I think Danny officially loves space. Maybe, because of his ghost half it could be classified as an obsession? I don’t know, but he really seems to love it. He’s worried though. He’s smart enough to know when he’s in danger, and he is. The neighbours have seen him and they’ve met him. The people out looking for Danny were going house to house, showing everyone that poster.  
I can’t let him go back there. He doesn’t much want to either. Just then, Mom and Dad came up from the basement smiling.  
“We’ve got a plan, guys.” Mom said. Dad could barely contain his huge, glowing grin, and burst out, yelling. “Danny’s gonna to live with an old buddy of mine! Just until all of this dies down, anyway.”  
“You’re sending me away?” Danny’s voice cracked and he got a worried look on his face and started to apologize. “If I did something-” Mom cut him off.  
“No, Danny. You did nothing wrong. We just need to hide you for a little while and the best way to do that is to get you away from here. We can’t uproot our lives right now. Jazz is almost done with school and I have the veterinary practice to worry about. Not to mention we wouldn’t be able to afford to buy a new place right now. This is the only way we can keep you safe and still have you. Besides, when they leave town you’ll come right back.”  
“When is he leaving?” I asked. Mom bit her lip and replied.  
“We already called Vlad and asked him if he could keep Danny for a while. He is a scientist and was a supernatural enthusiast in college. We told him all about Danny, so we won’t have to worry about that.”  
Mom finished with a smile and looked at Danny. “He’s sending a car for you right now. It won’t be here for a few hours, though. Vlad lives in Wisconsin.”  
“Wait, sending a car? People can get cars in the mail?”  
Mom laughed and I chuckled, Dad smiled and explained.  
“He’s sending a driver here with a car so the driver can drive you to his house. He’s filthy rich. He can do that.”  
Danny just blinked at him. Economics was one thing, of many, that Danny still didn’t understand.  
Mom and Danny went upstairs and packed a bag for Danny. I packed a smaller bag and shoved an old laptop in there along with a few movies and books for the road.  
A few hours later, a black sedan pulled up in our driveway. The driver quickly got out and slinked along the front lawn in the setting sun. He knocked on the door and waited, holding one hand behind his back.  
Mom opened the door and gave him Danny’s bag. He grabbed it and walked back to the car and popped it in the trunk. He moved back to the driver’s seat and sat down, waiting.  
Mom hauled Danny downstairs and hugged him tightly.  
“We’ll see you soon, Danny. We love you.” Dad wrapped an arm around Danny’s shoulder.  
“You’ll come back when it’s safe, son.”  
Danny’s eyes started watering when he heard the last word. He threw himself into Dad’s arms and started mumbling into his jumpsuit. Dad kneeled down and hugged him tightly, then reached for me and Mom and pulled us into a group hug. We all whispered ‘Goodbye’s and ‘I love you’s into each other’s ears. Danny wiped the tears from his eyes, set his shoulders and turned towards the front door. He walked slowly and grabbed his carry-on bag when he reached the door. He gave us one final look, then turned out into the golden light of the outside world.  
My family rushed to the door and waved to him as he got into the car and smiled at us. He threw his bag inside and waved back.  
His face was sad. His smile was thin, and barely held up. His eyes were permeated with sadness and were wet with unshed tears.  
He sat in the car and pulled the door shut.  
With the slam of a car door, he was gone.  
The car drove away, into the coming night.  
The neighbor’s girl and a friend of hers watched as he went. Her short black hair flowing in the wind, while his dark green eyes tracked the car’s movement.


	5. Chapter 5

It’s been three months since we last heard from Danny. He used to call us every day, once he figured out how to use Vlad’s phone. We’ve tried calling, but nobody ever picks up. The only thing on the other end is a polite voicemail message, monotone and impersonal. Whenever we call, that voice mocks us. Like it knows how desperate we are to see Danny again.  
We’d accepted Danny into our lives and our family. He was like a little brother to me, and I know for a fact that Dad thought of him as a son, and I’m pretty sure Mom did too.  
We’re on our way to Wisconsin right now. We have to get Danny. The Agents from the Facility left almost a month ago. Danny could’ve come home anytime he wanted. Only instead of a little brother, we got a dreary voicemail.  
The neighbour's kids come over sometimes and ask about him. Apparently, Sam and Danny used to talk from their windows. They’re right next to each other and Sam saw the poster and got worried. We told her that we took Danny in because of an abusive home, which isn’t exactly all that far off from the truth. She nodded and said that she’d spread the word to stop people from turning him in. Her friend, Tucker, is doing the same thing, I guess.  
They were supposed to be getting back from camping tomorrow.  
There was a knock at the back door. I stood up and walked back to go see who it was. The cold knob twisted in my hand and I pulled the door open.   
Sam and Tucker stood their, in all of their fourteen year old glory, Tucker supporting a thin, filthy figure.   
It was Danny.  
“Danny!?”  
He looked up at me tiredly and smiled weakly. “Hello, Jazz…” he dropped his head and closed his eyes. Sam decided to speak up.  
“We found him wandering around the woods when we went camping. He said he hadn’t eaten in a few days. We gave him the rest of our food, but it wasn’t much. We hopped on a bus and came back right away.” she paused for a moment, shifting uneasily on the doorstep. “Can we come in?”  
I jolted and stepped aside. They walked in and Tucker plopped Danny down on the couch. Danny groaned and fell onto his side.  
“Danny, what’s wrong?”  
“Side hurts….” he mumbled. I grabbed his bag from off of his back and lifted his shirt. A purple and yellow bruise covered his whole side. In the middle of the blotch, a huge rusty red and dark green scab stretched from the bottom of his ribcage to his waistline. I gasped.  
“Tucker, go get the first aid kit, it’s under the sink. Sam, go call my Dad up from the lab. I’ll call Mom.”   
The two ran off to go do their jobs and I called Mom, Danny started falling asleep. Eventually, Dad came sprinting up the stairs and Tucker came back with the first aid kit. Dad and I started bandaging Danny up and cleaning his wounds.  
How did he even get like this? What happened to him? I thought Vlad’s was supposed to be safe.  
Mom barreled into the living room, a look of motherly worry on her face. Her eyebrows were creased and her eyes were wild. She ran up to Danny and helped us patch him up.  
After some time, Danny woke up. He groggily sat up and tensed when he saw Sam out of the corner of his eye. His head whipped towards her in alarm and his eyes glowed green. He finally noticed it was Sam, and quickly relaxed.  
He would do this when we first took him in. It’s a symptom of PTSD and a few other mental illnesses. Before we had to send him away he didn’t even flinch when someone closed the door.  
“Danny?” Mom called to him when she saw that he was awake. He turned towards her and blinked. “Maddie?” She rushed at him and held him in a tight hug. He stiffened in her grip, but relaxed after a few seconds before he hugged her back.  
“We missed you, sweetie, but, what happened?” Danny looked down and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. “I missed you too.” he said. Dad furrowed his eyebrows and spoke up.  
“Danny, what happened with Vlad?” Danny flinched at the name and looked down again.  
He told us then. About how Vlad welcomed him into his home and gave him a room. He told us how this room was like the one at the Facility. Cold, dark, and damp. His mattress in his room was thin plastic and the blankets were stiff and scratchy. He told us about how Vlad would come down to feed him once a day and would bring down a phone a few times a week to call us and threaten him with beatings and starvation if he didn’t say he was fine. He told us about how Vlad locked him in that room. He told us about how Vlad was the one who called him ‘Daniel’ in the Facility. One of Danny’s first handlers who was fired for his compassion towards Danny. He told us about how Vlad believed that Danny was below him, but didn’t turn him in because the ‘GIW were too low, even for something like Danny.’ He told us about how Vlad forgot to lock the door one day, and how Danny turned into his ghost form and flew out, only grabbing the backpack I had packed for him. He told us about how he wandered around Wisconsin for a month , hunting Tucker, being glad to have found some friendly faces.  
By the end, we were all crying and Danny was shaking and pleading.“Please don’t send me back with him.”   
“Of course not, Danny! You’ll never leave us again, sweetie, we’re so sorry, please, forgive us!”  
Danny stared at Mom, his eyes wide and wet with tears. “I forgive you. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know.” He glanced down at his feet at the last part before looking back up at us.  
“So, so we have any food?” he asked with a sheepish smile. We all grinned at him and Dad walked into the kitchen to make something. Mom laid Danny down on the couch and made sure he was comfortable.  
Dad came in after a few minutes with a cup of soup and some crackers. Danny ate them slowly and sat watching TV with Sam and Tucker. I had explained what Danny meant by his ghost half and the Facility to them and they took it surprisingly well. Eventually, they all drifted off to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Basically, a greenstick fracture is where the bone is completely broken and is at an angle of 90 degrees or so, it's more common in children. A comminuted fracture is pretty much when the bone is completely shattered, and a compound fracture is a simple break all the way through the bone. The radius is the bone in the forearm on the thumb's side, the ulna is the bone on the pinky's side, and the humerus is the upper arm bone.

It's been a week since Danny came home. We've been rehabilitating him again, and introducing him to a healthy home again. He's been doing alright, but he still jumps whenever there's a loud noise. The self confidence he'd gained with us had been shattered by Vlad and we were slowly rebuilding it. He looks down whenever he's around people and actively tries to avoid eye contact. Probably because he thinks he doesn't deserve to look us in the eye.  
I can only imagine what he's gone through. Not only at Vlad's, but at the Facility as well. Dad hacked into the Facility's records and searched through it. The procedures were apparently 'only written down in private journals' that were stored in high security locations. The results were the only things we found.  
What we found was disgusting. Not a single moment of Danny's life had been private. There is a record of behavioral analysis dating back from July fifteen years ago, presumably when Danny was 'conceived'. He was 'born' in March of the next year.  
The kitchen table was littered with warm, freshly printed paper. Each one describing the results of a major test. There were no photographs, and there was never any mention of ethics or morals. No record of using anaesthetic or any painkillers. There were records of 'behavioral regulation', which I translated to abuse as punishment. In one instance, it reads "Subject 80-11 misbehaved again. To correct, starvation and excessive exercise applied. Due to weakness from previous procedure, starvation, and clumsiness, 80-11 suffered from; a greenstick fracture of the radius (common for his age), a comminuted fracture in the ulna, and a compound fracture in the humerus.* 80-11's diet will still be restricted, however, sustenance is needed for quick recovery "  
They blamed him for breaking his own arm. He did something 'wrong' and they starved him and probably put him on a treadmill on high for a few hours. He must've tripped and landed on his arm. There isn't a date on the file, but it was probably when Danny was younger. Greenstick fractures are more common in children than in adults, or young adults.  
I sighed as I wrote down my thoughts on a yellow legal pad. This was my tenth page of notes. Danny was upstairs, sleeping the day away. I wasn't about to go wake him up. God knows the kid deserved three years of sleep for all he'd been through, according to these records.  
It was midday, and the sun was shining into the kitchen window, illuminating the dust particles that floated around in the air. The flowers on the window sill were slowly wilting with dry dirt, and the cactus Mom got me for christmas one year was doing well. A summer breeze from an open window ruffled the papers on the table. Dad was in the living room, knitting, and Mom was working on some paperwork in the office.  
The front door rattled on it's hinges as someone pounded a fist against it and shouted."OPEN UP, FENTON!" Dad quickly stood up and walked to the door and swung it open. A man in a pristine white suit wearing dark sunglasses stood in the doorway, the sunlight from behind shadowing his sharp features.  
"What can I do for you?" Dad asked in a guarded voice. The man replied simply. "I am operative K of the Guys in White. Some months ago, something escaped one of our facilities. We've gotten a tip that it is here."  
"And where exactly did you get that tip? We went on a road trip a few months ago, but we've been home ever since. A silky voice spoke up from behind the agent. A man with long, graying hair in a pretentious ponytail and an expensive looking dark, pinstriped suit. His face was twisted into a wicked looking smirk."Me, Jack. I told them everything."  
Dad gasped angrily. "Vlad, what do you-?"  
The man, Vlad interrupted Dad with a wave of his hand and a roll of his eyes. "Please, Jack. You put a half ghost freak of nature in my house and you expect me to not call the authorities?" he scoffed. Dad gritted his teeth and thought fast, thinking up a lie on the spot.  
"We gave him to you. Shouldn't you have him?" Vlad sighed and grimaced.  
"He ran away a number of days ago. Haven't seen him since."  
"So, you figured he'd automatically know how to get back here from Wisconsin, without any geographical knowledge at all? You do know he didn't even know how to read until Jazz taught him, right?"  
Vlad opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by K. "We are aware of it's...deficiencies… we simply thought it would be best to talk to you, seeing as you do know the thing better than anyone."  
"Because I've known him his whole life, yeah? Look, we have no idea where he would be. We thought he was still with Vlad until now." Dad said, emphasizing the pronouns forcefully. K only rolled his eyes at Dad and continued. "We'll be coming after you for harboring it. But we have to find it first. Thank you for nothing, Mr. Fenton." K said sharply before turning around and grabbing Vlad and hauling him back to the white SUV parked on the street.  
"Yeah, you too, buddy." Dad viciously replied. Dad slammed the door shut and turned to me. He leaned his back against the door and sighed.  
"Pack up your bags and grab your passport. We're leaving." was all he said before he went up to talk to Mom.  
I stood there completely still with shock. We were going to uproot our lives because of this? I can understand why, to protect Danny, but why passport? Were we going to leave the country? I robotically walked upstairs and into my room. I pulled out my suitcases and started packing up my room.  
Shoving all of my clothes and toiletries into my bag, I only briefly wondered if I should wake up Danny. I decided against it, he'd need all the sleep he could get right now.  
My bags were full and all of my clothes were all put away. It was only a little thing, but my room looked so empty. Devoid of all of the things I wore every day made the room seem impersonal and cold. Just another teenager's room. I ran down to the basement and emptied some boxes that Dad used for failed inventions. I hauled them upstairs and packed the rest of my room up.  
It was even worse when it was completely empty. Bare and clean. A strange room in a strange house. I brought my boxes downstairs. Mom was doing the same thing.  
"We're renting a moving van. Jack went to go get it. He's on his way back now."  
"Alright."  
I could tell she was pretty broken up about moving. This was her hometown. She never really left. Sure, she went out of state for college, but she never really left Amity Park. This has been her home. And now she was being forced out of it.  
She wouldn't blame Danny, though. She's moving to protect him. She sees him as a son, and she'll do anything to help him. She might resent him for a while, but that'll pass quickly enough.  
-X-  
The whole house was packed up in record time. I was driving the car, following Mom and Danny in the RV, followed by Dad in the moving van. We were going to Canada. It's the closest border and it's unprotected. It'll be easy enough to get through. Dad had gone to the shifty part of town and asked for a forger. it had only taken a few hours. We were now the Andersons. They wouldn't be able to track us through the border with different identities.  
Schools in Canada are usually pretty cheap and have good reputations. Mom was able to book an interview in Canmore, Alberta. It was a small enough town, surrounded by tall mountains and some beautiful lakes.  
That was going to be our home now.  
So, we drove to Canada. Looking forward to our new lives, and regretting our pasts.  
-X-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Basically, a greenstick fracture is where the bone is completely broken and is at an angle of 90 degrees or so, it's more common in children. A comminuted fracture is pretty much when the bone is completely shattered, and a compound fracture is a simple break all the way through the bone. The radius is the bone in the forearm on the thumb's side, the ulna is the bone on the pinky's side, and the humerus is the upper arm bone.


	7. Chapter 7

Our new house was two stories and tudor style. Lush ivy grew up the sides and curled around to the front, surrounding windows and the front door. The bright green covered up the dull beige and stood out against the dark brown trim. The garage was lined by bushes and connected to the kitchen. The entire property was surrounded by a thick, healthy green forest and a creek babbled through the yard. The road was a quarter mile away and the driveway was long, winding and gravelly. It smelled like rotting leaves and wet dust during the summer months.  
I attended the school up in town. It was a good school, full of small town farm kids. Everyone knew everyone, and soon enough, so did I. Dad set up another lab in the basement so he could continue inventing, while Mom worked at the Vet’s practice, working on larger animals as much as small animals. Danny went to the remedial school at the community center, for adults who didn’t get an education for whatever reason. We had a bit of trouble getting him in at first, but when we explained that he hadn’t had any formal schooling and only barely knew how to read, he was accepted in quickly enough.  
He’s been doing very well in school. He’s up to the equivalent of fourth grade now, I think, and I’ve been giving him culture lessons. We basically just sit around watching documentaries about people and humans and I explain everything. We also watch regular TV, so he gets more popular culture as well.  
We don’t know how far his ghost half has affected what he can do, though. Dad did do a little bit of spectral research in college, but he never ran with it. He’s been doing some tests with Danny’s blood and cells and whatever to see what’s going on in there.   
Danny gets skittish whenever Dad takes a test or gets results back. He has enough reason to, but I also suspect that he gets scared of the results because they used to punish him whenever he got unexpected results. It’s not like he could help the results, though. I’m guessing they just got angry that he disproved a theory and they took it out on him.  
Danny has gotten a lot better around strangers. He won’t jump when you touch him or flinch when something is loud. He’s almost a normal teenager.  
Except for one thing.  
Apparently, he was supposed to be a soldier or a weapon. The only education he’s had is how to fight and kill things. One day, our last day in Amity Park, we had a break in. None of us but Danny had heard the guy come in, but what we did hear was a crash.   
Danny had thrown the thief into a wall. We all rushed downstairs to see what was happening, but we only got there in time to see danny expertly incapacitate a man almost three feet taller than him. We kicked the guy out on the street. It was too risky to call the cops on him.  
Danny is who we were more worried about. We asked him where he learned how to do that, and he said that he just knew. He automatically knew the man’s weak points and how to exploit them. Dad had said that ghosts were naturally violent, so it could be an instinct, or Danny was trained at the facility.  
That’s why, when he was almost tackled by an overly playful four year old a few days ago, he nearly broke the kid’s arm.  
Other than that and a few mental scars that I doubt will ever go away, and a few physical ones too, Danny is almost completely normal.   
That’s why the conversation I was listening to was so weird. Especially for my parents. It was late, almost midnight, and my parents were down in the lab, whispering to each other. Danny was long since asleep, and I was up doing some studying and they were supposed to have gone to bed hours ago. They usually go to bed at eight.  
“He’s dangerous, Mads. We can’t keep this up unless we send him in.” my Dad said, sounding like he was trying to make Mom see sense. Mom quickly snapped back.  
“Yes, Jack, he’s violent, but remember what happened last time we let someone know about him? We’re in Canada, Jack. CANADA! I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of hockey or moose! I probably won’t be able to see my parents and sister again because of him! No, he’s staying put. In fact I might just pull him out of the community center. It’s dangerous!”  
“Mads, he needs to have a life. We can’t just keep him here because you think it’s his fault we’re here. He needs to learn and grow. He needs to be independent at some point in his life! We can’t just push him off onto Jazz when it’s time! What if she has kids and a family? And we WILL be sending him. He needs it, Maddie. He needs to talk about it to someone professional. Jazz is great, but she doesn’t know everything.”  
“We can’t risk it, Jack! He’ll be shipped off back to the Facility, and we’ll be sent to prison. It’s too dangerous!”  
“Maddie, I know you think that but remember Jazz’s first day of school? Remember what you said? You said ‘It’s dangerous. I don’t want her to go!’ and if we had listened to you, our daughter wouldn’t be on the same track she is now. She’s going to be a psychologist, and who know what Danny could be?”  
“He couldn’t be anything, he’s an experiment. He’s not an actual person. He was never born, he doesn’t have an identity. He’d be running from this his whole life. What if he gets married, Jack? He’d have to tell his spouse to just pack up their lives and leave.”  
My jaw dropped. I knew that Mom was resentful for moving, but to this extent? She wasn’t willing to allow him to go to school, or to- I think, a psychologist, from the sounds of it- she wasn’t willing to let him fall in love, just because of what he is and his past. She didn’t think of him as an actual person.   
It hit me like a bomb. Mom was growing to hate Danny. She may have loved him before we left, but being away from her family and friends was taking it’s toll. She was short with everyone and hasn’t made any friends here. It was a slow, faltering road to an abusive relationship. Every day, everything she sacrifices for him, everything she does, everything he does will add and add until she retaliates. After months of simmering, it’s going to be violent when she boils over.  
Dad stared at her with an open mouth and wide eyes. He blinked at her a few times and shuffled his feet. “Maddie, you-you don’t really think that? He’s the son we’ve always wanted. So what if he’s not necessarily ours, and maybe a little more than human? It’s our responsibility to take care of him, and that means making sure he gets the care he needs. And he needs to go to school and go to a shrink, because if he doesn’t it will ruin him. We can’t just lock him up, Maddie! He needs to go out and live his own life. If we keep him from this, we’re no better than the Facility.”  
“Jack, we-” Dad interrupted, his voice stern and angry.  
“No, Maddie. He’s going to keep going to school, and he’s going to go to the doctor. End of Discussion.”  
I ducked behind the door and watched as Dad stormed past me, his footsteps heavy with restrained anger. Mom stared after him, a look of shock and indignation on her face.  
I hadn’t ever seen my parents fight before. And over something so small, taking Danny to school   
and to a doctor? From what I’ve read it’s things like this that are the downfall of a relationship. It starts with the small things. He leaves the seat up, she chews too loudly. He wants kids, she doesn’t. He wants to send the kids out to school, she doesn’t. I could see it now. In a few months, maybe a year, Mom would probably file for a divorce. Dad would be heartbroken. Mom would want me, but reject Danny, Dad would take him in, but wouldn’t play, read or watch TV with him. Mom would be broken up over Dad and she wouldn’t notice when I’d graduate High School and leave for college. All of these scenarios ripped through my mind, faster than bullets from a gun.  
My family was in shambles.


	8. Chapter 8

It’s been about three years since Danny came to stay. I’m in my freshman year of college. I applied to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and a few private colleges in canada. I was accepted to all of them, but I decided on Harvard. They have a decent psychology program.  
Danny was sad to see me go, but I visit every time I can, and call every day. Danny is in an education program, and he’s in the equivalent of fifth grade- he skipped a few years ahead.  
Mom has been cold towards Danny ever since that argument, not that he notices or cares. She loves him, I’m sure, but she doesn’t show it at all. Sometimes she stares at him with this blank look on her face. No one can tell what she’s thinking, but her pupils dilate and her breathing gets really quiet. Implying that she is interested in Danny for some reason. Almost like she’s hunting him.  
Dad has been even more loving to Danny since the fight. I guess he’s trying to make up for Mom. He calls Danny son, while Mom calls him ‘Daniel’, most of the time. Danny doesn’t really like that name much, it reminds him of the Facility, but he doesn’t complain.  
They aren’t sleeping in the same room anymore.   
Dad took the guest bedroom and Mom stayed in the master bedroom. They don’t do it in front of me, but I know they fight.   
It isn’t even about anything important. It’s just- “Jack, you left the goddamn toilet seat up again.”  
“Oh, sorry Mads, I’ll go put it down.”  
“Don’t bother, Jack. It’s already down.”  
“You don’t have to be snippy, it’s just a toilet.”  
“I have every right to be snippy, Jack Fenton.”  
Stupid, little things like that. I hear them through the walls sometimes. A blowout is coming.  
All of my books say that it’s fights like these that are the kindling to a full blown divorce.  
I used to not be able to picture my parents even frowning at each other during the regular year- not just Christmas- but now, the prospect of a divorce really seems likely.  
As soon as I can, I’m bringing Danny with me. I need to get him out of there. It’s toxic and he’s still healing. He still has night terrors. All of them are because of Vlad and the Facility.  
I trudged through the light, powdery snow, heading back to my dorm. The sun lazily falls behind the trees and buildings behind me, stretching the shadows and setting the sky on fire. My breath puffs out in front of me, and the snow beneath my feet crunches with each step.  
I’ve been seeing white vans driving around lately. I normally wouldn’t think anything of it, but they had black license plates and the drivers were usually bald, wearing starched white suits and unnecessary sunglasses.  
Just like the people who tried to take Danny away.  
The van is very close to me. Uncomfortably close, in fact. I pull out my key ring and prep the pepper spray dangling from it.  
I’m tackled from behind. I twisted around in the agent’s grip and sprayed him, and he let go. The other agent, a severe looking woman grabbed my keys, threw them on the ground by the other agent, and grabbed my wrists, pulling them behind my back.  
Before I know it, I’m being handcuffed against the van and mirandized by the two agents.   
I’m shoved into the back of the van and thrown against the back wall when it tore out of the campus.  
\--X--  
I have been in this tiny little cell for over six hours and I think I’m going to explode.   
They didn’t end up taking me anywhere really horrible, like the Facility, or some weird government torture chamber. I’m in a police station.   
They just threw me in this cell for hours without any explanation, and none of the cops will talk to me.  
So I waited, pacing back and forth in the cell. The bars were painted a sick looking foam green and the floor was plain gray cement, chipped and worn. In the corner was a tin bench, in the other corner, a small metal pot-like thing sticking out of the wall, presumably a toilet. The sink next to it was yellow and mildewy the faucet was rusted and leaked about eighteen drops a minute. I counted.  
Another hour later, the agent who cuffed me came to escort me out of my cell and into an interrogation room.   
The walls were plain gray, a height scale on the wall behind me and a one-sided mirror in front of me. The table was flimsy and collapsable. The Agent frowned at me.   
“I’m Agent R. You are Jasmine Fenton, correct?”  
“Haversham. Jasmine Haversham.”  
“No. You’re Jasmine Fenton and three years ago you aided in the release of the dangerous experiment known as subject 80-11. Not only that, but you again aided in it’s evasion of authorities.”  
I sat back against the chair, feigning a confused look.  
This woman had the audacity to say ‘it’. She doesn’t consider Danny a person, let alone sentient. ‘It’ is a pronoun that is applied when the object is inanimate, ‘it’ is not something you apply to a seventeen year old boy. I held back a sneer and gave her the best acting I’ve ever done.  
“What?”  
“Fenton, you helped 80-11 escape. It is a dangerous entity, and it endangers the whole planet with it’s freedom. Tell me where it is, and I’ll let you out of here right now.”  
“I’m Jasmine Haversham. I don’t know what an 80-11 is, and I don’t know any Jasmine Fentons.”  
“Stop lying, Fenton. It’ll only make this harder.”  
“I’m not lying. I don’t even know anyone named Fenton, let alone me. Look, Lady-”  
“Agent.”  
“-I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. So just uncuff me and let me go. You’ve got the wrong person.”  
“I’m pretty certain I don’t. I’ve got photos.”  
She reached behind her back and pulled out a manila folder. She emptied out the folder and turned all the photos over.  
All of them were me. Some of them with Danny, most not.  
“This-” She said, pointing to a picture. “-is Jasmine Fenton, three years ago. This-” pointing to another, “is you. Taken four days ago. Isn’t there a little resemblance?”  
I glared at her.   
“Which ones are me?”  
“All of them.” she sneered.  
“No. Not all of them. That’s not me, and neither is that. But what I want to know is how you got all of these pictures of me without a warrant. You need a warrant to take pictures of anyone and use them as evidence. This is illegal.”  
R frowned at me and opened her mouth to say something before I cut her off.  
“I’m not in Harvard for nothing.” I smirked at her furious expression and held up my wrists. She glared daggers at me and grudgingly, unlocked the handcuffs.   
Once free, I rubbed my wrists and smiled. “So, am I free to go?”  
“Yes. But we’ll be watching.” I rolled my eyes and walked towards the door.  
“Oh, and I should tell you. Getting arrested by my organization- the GIW- is a- let’s call it a federal thing.”  
I turned back and looked at her. Her face had gone from furious to smug.   
“Meaning?”  
“Meaning, good luck finding a job with that stain on your record.” she smiled cruelly and walked out of the door in front of me, a bounce in her step.  
I stood there shocked.   
Being arrested by the GIW is a federal affair. A federal affair in which the laws for arrest are different than regular ones.  
A federal affair where I get a permanent stain on my record because I rescued a lab experiment.  
A permanent stain that will haunt me until I die.   
Nobody hires federal felons.  
I’m going to be homeless.  
I won’t be able to get a job because of the arrest, I won’t be able to get a house because of the arrest, I won’t be able to take Danny away from Mom and Dad because of my homelessness, Danny will be stuck in that toxic environment until he gets his GED. I’ll have huge student loans to pay off, but nothing to pay with.   
What have I done?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally bringing this to an end, I suppose. I may make a sequel or rewrite it at some point, but I feel good about some of the chapters. Maybe I’ll write it again from Danny’s pov? I’ll just admit right now to not being completely sure if I originally named this au convalesce or convalescence. I have both written down and it’s confusing. I don’t know, but it’s been fun writing this. I hope you enjoy this- the last chapter of my convalesce au.

“He’s gone, Jazz, h-he left a note and that’s it. He just packed up and left. I-I don’t know where or- oh god, Jazz why did he do this?”  
“I-I don’t know. Have you read the note?”  
“N-no.”  
“Good. Wait for me. I want to be there when you read it. I’ll be home in a bit.”  
“S-see you…”  
The other end of the line shut off with a click. I held my phone to my chest, trying to calm the tremors of suppressed sobs racking my body.  
I ran out to my car and hopped in, frantically turning the keys and tearing out of the parking lot of my dorm. I needed to go home.  
He’d heard about my imprisonment, and now he’s gone.  
That part of the government- the GiW- could ignore a person’s constitutional rights if they wanted to. They had every right to detain me for as long as they wanted to. They just don’t usually ignore them because they get penalized for it. Questioning by the GiW was like being accused of being a communist in the 50’s. Everyone knew who you were, and everyone believed you were a communist- even if you weren’t.   
Because of that mentality- if she was detained by the GiW something must be bad about her- my future was in shambles, my place at Harvard was in jeopardy, and Danny knew it.  
He knew that my life is basically over, and he blames himself.  
It’s my fault that he’s gone.  
I didn’t even have to read the note to know that he’s run away because he thinks he’s too dangerous.  
But he really is dangerous, you know?  
He’s a half-ghost lab experiment who we helped escape from a lifetime of torture and training as a weapon. He could probably kill two people with his bare hands. He could infiltrate governments and high security buildings without even blinking. Just some half human weapon that was developed for the security of America’s interests.  
But he was such a sweetie.  
He’d been volunteering lately. Built homes for people and gave out food at food shelters. He can’t volunteer at a hospital or at an animal shelter because of obvious reasons- needles and cages-. But he tries. He babysat free for the neighbours, always tipped the waiters, shoveled the whole street’s driveways, took care of people’s pets when they go out of town. He’s an amazing person. I don’t think I know anyone better.  
The sheer goodness inside of him was able to overcome a childhood of torture and dehumanization.  
He helps because he doesn’t want anyone to suffer like he did.   
But now, in order to protect the people that he loves, he’s leaving.   
He’s giving up the only love he’s ever known so we would be safe. Mom may not have seen him as her son the whole time, and Dad was the best father he could’ve been to a fourteen year old lab experiment.   
We weren’t his actual biological family, but we were as good as. Better even. Because of my theory is right, his biological parents gave him up and sent him to that facility.  
He had to be born somehow, and artificial wombs are only in research stages. We never found his biological parents, but why would we want to?  
They gave him up. It was because of them that he is what he is. He could’ve had a completely normal life- one with friends and playing ball in the park and just being a normal kid instead of experiment after painful experiment and small cages and the abuse.  
He didn’t want to find them either.   
‘It was their fault anyway’ is what he would always say. He never talked much about his time in the Facility. Well, he did in the beginning, but that was because he wasn’t allowed secrets in the Facility. He told us everything because he didn’t know he didn’t have to tell us.  
I suppose that’s one of the worst parts.  
Even his thoughts were controlled there. He couldn’t think or feel for himself. Every thought he ever had could be found out by simply asking him.  
But it didn’t matter much, now.   
He’d started to keep secrets. He hid things and reveled in the control he had over his own mind.  
He’d need to keep secrets if he’s going off on his own.  
But it doesn’t matter.  
I’m still going to look for him. I’m not going to make him come back. I’m just going to keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble, make sure he survives.  
I’ll do everything I can to make sure he’s alright, and that he stays out of the Facility.  
I’m still going to have my own life, of course. Or, as much of a life as I can have with the massive shadow of government accusation of a crime hanging over my head.  
My car rumbled up the driveway to my parent’s house. The starry sky above me barely illuminating the woods around me.  
I could’ve sworn I saw green eyes staring at me.


End file.
